Jussi Björling was one of the strongest and steeliest lyric tenors of the 20th century, as famous for his Rodolfo in La Boheme as he was for his Calaf in Turandot. This superbly engineered survey of his early career takes us from 1936 to 1948, and covers, for the most part, his standard repertoire of French and Italian music–extracts from Aida and from Faust, and from both Massenet's Manon and Puccini's Manon Lescaut. He was a singer equally at home with the elegances of bel canto and with the passionate sorrows of verismo–he is particularly fine in "Vesti la guibbia" from Leoncavallo's Pagliacci… –Roz Kaveney

Limited fourteen CD set. The Complete Collection of Operatic Recital Albums brings together for the first time all the recital and duet albums which Leontyne Price recorded between 1960 and 1982. Starting with her operatic d‚but with arias, it features not only her legendary Scenes from Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, but also the famous complete Prima Donna Collection consisting of five volumes released between 1966 and 1980.

…The vivid MDG recording is slightly distanced, so the volume needs to be increased considerably for its fine qualities to become evident. Balances between voices and orchestra are excellent, and for those listening in multi-channel the surround speakers have been used to great effect for the off-stage brass, distant bells and chorus in the Act 3 cataclysmic immolation of Irrelohe castle. There is no applause or audience noise but the movement of singers on the stage is clearly defined with very few extraneous sounds being captured by the microphones. This is the latest addition to the Schrecker discography and will be welcomed by all admirers of the composer and can be confidently recommended.

In this new release, the exclusive Chandos artist and award-winning pianist Louis Lortie continues his exploration of piano works by Franz Liszt. His previous Liszt releases have been critically acclaimed, Gramophone describing his performance of the complete Années de Pèlerinage as ‘spellbinding’. Here Lortie turns his hand to the composer’s opera transcriptions and paraphrases, works that revolutionised composition for the piano with their unheralded technical innovation.

On their fourth release, Too Slim & The Taildraggers provide a fresh approach to electric blues, highlighted by Too Slim's masterfully varied guitar. Too Slim and the Taildraggers is an American rock band formed in 1986 in Spokane, Washington, United States. The band currently consists of Tim "Too Slim" Langford (lead vocals, guitar), Robert Kearnes (bass, vocals) and Jeffrey "Shakey" Fowlkes (drums). The band is located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Tom Brimm (bass) and John Cage (drums) were both early members of the group…

Crossover sensation Andrea Bocelli's Aria served as the singer's operatic calling card, and as such it left behind the synth-infused ballads and lighter Italian fare of his earlier work and delved into the dramatic warhorses of the tenor repertory. Soliciting the help of Gianandrea Noseda and the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Orchestra underscored the singer's desire to be taken seriously, since both conductor and ensemble were already veterans of fine operatic recordings. The resulting album surpasses the usual expectations of crossover singers: Bocelli's grasp of style and vocal technique are evidence of sincere study and undeniable talent – something that can't be said of some similarly marketed singers, like Britain's Russell ("The Voice") Watson. But the album's impression will depend mostly on listeners' point of entry. Bocelli fans will undoubtedly enjoy hearing the star's voice applied to this music, and for many people it will serve as an accessible entry into the world of opera.

With the death of Fabrizio De André from cancer on January 11, 1999, Italy lost one of its most modern singer/songwriters. Inspired by the songwriting of Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen, De Andre's songs encompassed Genoese folk songs, French protest/social commentary, beatnik "stream of consciousness" poetry, and the soundtracks of Italian film Westerns. In Italy and in the rest of world he is considered a poet because of the quality of his lyrics.